Friday, October 2, 2009

The cure

As I walked into the bank this evening, I noticed that every single employee, both male and female, was dressed in bright pink tops. Actually, I think some of the ladies even had pink skirts/dresses on. I asked if it was some sort of breast cancer awareness campaign, and the clerk confirmed that it was with a big smile.

"You know," I said with a big smile, "the best preventative for breast cancer is to never use hormonal birth control and instead have lots of babies and nurse them all!" Then I made sure to hold Becky on my hip in a way that she couldn't help but see how cute and adorable she was. Definitely a much better alternative than cancer and the terrible treatment options that come with it.

Her smile froze, and she probably thought I was crazy, but I hope that those words will sink in and get her to think.

Anyway, I am in no way implying that women who get cancer brought it upon themselves. I was just trying to point out a very effective method to reduce one's risk. And it was a lot easier and faster than running in a Susan G. Komen marathon.

19 comments:

My mom, who did nurse me after I was born but is a senior citizen now, is a breast cancer survivor. Eleven years ago a mammograph/screening found a cluster of malignant cancer cells before they were large enough to call a "lump". Certain doctors here in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, wanted to the drastic treatment of double masctectomy (sp?). She went to UAMS Women's Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, for another opinion. There the specialist was able to treat her by oral pills, removing some lymphnodes from her underarms and maybe the little cluster in her breast. She was cured without chemotherapy, radiation or deforming/disfiguring surgery. She went to a couple of Susan G. Komen events and to a cancer support facility for information and moral support.

I agree that synthetic medications (including birth control and hormones) can be detrimental to one's health, and that breastfeeding is definitely beneficial to baby and mom. Breastfeeding in public is fine and for more than a few months is even better. That's what makes us mammals. I did some reading and research before and after my daughter's birth. Echoing a bit from your earlier posts, it's wrong for hospitals to make arbitrary decisions like to give newborns formula bottles and Binkies/pacifiers, and not to allow fathers or others to video record the labor and birth.

As usual, your observation was ignorant, uneducated and inappropriate. My mother had breast cancer at the age of 72 and had 7 children and never on the hormonal birth control. Shame on you for this statement to the the bank employee.

Researchers at the University of Texas, have shown that use of oral contraceptives does not increase the risk of breast cancer.Up to 70 per cent of US women born since 1950 have used the Pill for contraception. //Previous research has suggested that use of the hormones in the Pill could raise the risk of breast cancer - while other studies have failed to reveal a connection. The early Pill users are now reaching the peak age at which breast cancer develops - so the question acquires a new emergency.

Researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and elsewhere, reported on a new study showing that the Pill is safe. They studied nearly 8,000 women aged between 30 and 62. Half had been diagnosed with breast cancer, whilethe other half had no history of the disease. Analysis of Pill use in both groups showed that use of oral contraceptives did not increase the risk of breast cancer. This was true even for women with a family history of the disease, and those who'd begun the Pill at an early age. In fact, women who have taken oral contraceptives at any point in their lives are at no more risk of breast cancer than women who have never taken the Pill.

Researchers at the University of Texas, have shown that use of oral contraceptives does not increase the risk of breast cancer.Up to 70 per cent of US women born since 1950 have used the Pill for contraception. //Previous research has suggested that use of the hormones in the Pill could raise the risk of breast cancer - while other studies have failed to reveal a connection. The early Pill users are now reaching the peak age at which breast cancer develops - so the question acquires a new emergency.

Researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and elsewhere, reported on a new study showing that the Pill is safe. They studied nearly 8,000 women aged between 30 and 62. Half had been diagnosed with breast cancer, whilethe other half had no history of the disease. Analysis of Pill use in both groups showed that use of oral contraceptives did not increase the risk of breast cancer. This was true even for women with a family history of the disease, and those who'd begun the Pill at an early age. In fact, women who have taken oral contraceptives at any point in their lives are at no more risk of breast cancer than women who have never taken the Pill. Researchers at the University of Texas, have shown that use of oral contraceptives does not increase the risk of breast cancer.Up to 70 per cent of US women born since 1950 have used the Pill for contraception. //Previous research has suggested that use of the hormones in the Pill could raise the risk of breast cancer - while other studies have failed to reveal a connection. The early Pill users are now reaching the peak age at which breast cancer develops - so the question acquires a new emergency.

Researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and elsewhere, reported on a new study showing that the Pill is safe. They studied nearly 8,000 women aged between 30 and 62. Half had been diagnosed with breast cancer, whilethe other half had no history of the disease. Analysis of Pill use in both groups showed that use of oral contraceptives did not increase the risk of breast cancer. This was true even for women with a family history of the disease, and those who'd begun the Pill at an early age. In fact, women who have taken oral contraceptives at any point in their lives are at no more risk of breast cancer than women who have never taken the Pill

CatholicMom...did you even look at the link that she posted? You know, the one from the American Cancer Society that states that "Birth Control Pills Increase Cancer Risk"? BTW, with a SN like yours, its kinda humorous to read your defense of birth control...

Catholic Mom, Liv, and anyone else who may be having an issue with my comment:

my post made it very clear that breastfeeding and pregnancy are not a guarantee against breast cancer, but rather the best preventative. There are also people who get lung cancer and have never smoked a single cigarette, but it doesn't change the fact that 90% of people who do get it are smokers.

From all the research I have done, estrogen (both natural and artificial) is a major culprit in causing breast cancer. Women like me who are perennially pregnant and/or breastfeeding experience very few periods, averaging less than one per year, and are therefore exposed to much lower levels of estrogen. Women who take the pill not only have hundreds of periods in their lifetime, but also add to that artificial estrogen, and reduce/eliminate the benefit that breastfeeding offers.

Breastfeeding is beneficial not only because it delays periods, but also because it increases the flow of lymphatic fluid, which is what "washes out" cancer-causing cells, debris, etc. from body tissue.

Pregnancy is considered a major preventative in women who have four or more children. It also protects agaist other cancers in general. One theory is that this is due to the fact that embryonic stem cells cross over into the mother's body throughout pregnancy, where they help protect against cancer-causing cells.

Your grandmother likely gave birth during the early part of the 20th century under what I am guessing very unnatural circumstances (i.e. twilight sleep, standard separation of mother and baby, etc.). Even if she did breastfeed, I doubt it was exclusive, on-demand breastfeeding for the first 6 months, and then continued nursing until the child was 1 1/2 to 2 years old. Doctors back then did everything to actively discourage women from BFing, and especially BF in a way that would delay the return of menses.

Of course, there are many, many other toxins we are exposed to these days, and any one of us could develop cancer in any part of our body as a result of it. For example, many plastics and pesticides mimic artificial estrogen in our body. This may explain why about 1% of people who get breast cancer are men. Lack of exercise and poor nutrition also increase cancer rates, as both help fight cancer-causing cells in the body.

Again, I am not "faulting" anyone at all. I think it is unfortunate for anybody to get cancer. My point was that the ladies in the bank thought they were helping fight cancer by wearing a pink shirt, while being pumped full of artifical estrogen. The pink dye in the shirt made of pesticide-laden cotton is doing more harm than good by poisoning their skin, the largest organ of the human body.

I have actually met more and more people who are opting for other methods of BC these days. I myself use FAM, which I have been very happy with.

I believe there is research showing that using hormonal BC decreases the risk of uterine cancer, so there are some benefits to it as well (personally I think the bad outweighs the good, but each person should decide for themselves).

"Research" out there about breast cancer is bias and the so called "experts" don't know anything. They're all tied to Big Pharma. Great comments, Z. They make more sense then all the experts out there.

I agree with you. It is great to show support to other women who may have had breast cancer, but we also need truth when it comes to the cause of these diseases. To think that drug companies would be out right with their studies is very naive. They have an agenda---money. At whatever cost. Sometimes people get so offended when you offer them alternative ideas. We need to learn to look at the big picture. It is obvious that something changed in the last few decades to lead to such high cancer rates. Why did that happen? More focus needs to be put on the "why". I also wanted to state that my mother is a breast cancer survivor for more than 10 years. My husband is a lymphoma survivor for 9 years. Naturally, that is why I am so interested in these topics.

Nurse Bee: hormonal birth control substantially reduces the chances of ovarian cancer. Any suppression of ovulation does, be it through frequent pregnancy and breastfeeding or through artificial means.

Zsusanna, while breastfeeding has been shown to decrease risk of breast cancer, the fewer ovulations and periods are not part of the anti-breast cancer equation. Women taking birth control pills do not ovulate and thus don't really have periods,but rather breakthrough bleeding timed like periods. That's why you can suppress menstruation by taking the active pills in a pack of birth control then immediately starting the next pack without taking the seven placebo pills in between.

The largest factor in breast cancer is genetics. Fullstop. Women in my family have not, until the 90s, ever breastfed and many have taken birth control pills. Number of women in my family who have contracted breast cancer? Zero.

You're a breastfeeding mom who doesn't drink alcohol, so your chances are enormously reduced. However for a woman who might have a history of breast cancer in her family, that only reduces some environmental factors.

From what I remember from pharmacological chemistry in college, pregnancy and breast-feeding DO in fact decrease the probability of some feminine cancers (and NOT all of them), but the reason is the lack of periods. Every time a woman ovulates and her period there is active cellular division in her reproductive system (cell multiplication), i.e., from a purely statistical point of view there is a greater chance of DNA mistakes, i.e., cancer. It's a matter of 'large numbers'.

A pregnant woman at term produces a ton of estrogen, more than a non-pregnant woman. But she also produces more progestin, which blocks her periods.

I'm a Christian, homeschooling, quiverful mama of 5 (soon to be 6) children. I am currently pregnant with my 8th pregnancy, and 37 years old. I was just diagnosed with breast cancer. I have "ecologically breastfed" all my children so far for at least six months, and then breastfed them all to one to two years of age. I have nursed while pregnant 7 times and tandem nursed. I did take hormonal BC the first few years of marriage before God convicted my heart on that. For whatever reason, I am now facing cancer. I don't know why. But I do ask you for your prayers for my healing. Thank you. (P.S. My sister had breast cancer in the last year and she also breastfed all four of her children.)

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and also really insensitive. They are raising awareness, and possibly money, for women who are fighting breast cancer right now, and to raise awareness of methods of diagnosis, and women's risks.

The most likely causes of cancer are genetics and environmental factors. Also, not every woman can afford to have handfuls of kids and breast-feed them all. Some women need to take hormonal birth control for life-long health conditions that if left untreated can be hazardous to their health (congenital adrenal hyperplasia, for one).

For many participants, running or walking in a 3-Day walk or other awareness event is to celebrate the memory of someone they've loved, to celebrate their own survival, or just to speak out to raise awareness! It is an HONOR and a PRIVILEGE to sweat and to strain to celebrate lives and to have hope for the future.

If I was a woman with breast cancer, or who had a loved one with breast cancer, I probably would have gotten up in your face about this. I have lost loved ones to cancer - some of them were in the 10% of non-smokers who got fatal lung cancer - and to think of you being so callous is just ridiculous.

If you want to have all the kids your body will allow and breastfeed them all, that's your perogative. But you have no right to tell other women how to live their lives. Some people just get cancer.

1 in 3 people will eventually get some cancer of some kind. I hope those words you spoke don't come back to bite you later on.

Less than 1/3 of women diagnosed with breast cancer have even ONE risk factor defined by the medical community, yet rates of breast cancer have skyrocketed in the past 50 years. I believe that environmental toxins, plastics, and other poisons that Zsuzsanna is actively avoiding are contributing far more than is known. This is because no one will find studies that would be financially damaging to so many big corporations. I am speaking as a senior (female!) medical student at a top school.

You might not be crazy, but you are certainly utterly ignorant. My mom died from breast cancer (which later spread) and I am pretty sure she didn't know much about birth control (considering the country and the time where and when she lived). My father worked in another country so they had to be lucky to see each other once per year (if he could get vacation for the holydays), so birth control was not much needed. But, guess what was her start of the cancer? Breast milk. Yes, she did breastfeed us until over one year, but when my sister was little, she started not liking the milk from one of her breasts. So, the baby would drink milk only from one side. Now, as I said, my father lived (because of work) in another country, so she wouldn't go to the doctor when he was not around because people would talk and maybe think bad things of her. But, the bad thing didn't go away, it transformed into cancer by the time my dad came back.So, what killed my mom? The exact opposite of what you are saying. Having another child killed her, not birth control!!! If she would have used birth control, probably she would have been still alive. So, stop spreading your ignorant ideas. Think before you talk. And read something else besides the Bible. It is not strange that your husband controls everything you do. If I had a wife as stupid as you, I would control her too.

About Me

I am the wife of a hard-working pastor and a stay-at-home Mom to our nine wonderful kids - Solomon (16), Isaac (15), John (13), Miriam (10), Rebecca (9), Anna (7), Stephen (5), Boaz (3), and Chloe (1).
We spend our days learning, working, playing, and putting out all kinds of fires as we serve our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
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